CRUISE AMONG HAIDA AND T LIN GIT VILLAGES. 161 



for the Hudson Bay Company's post. We finally decided to take 

 one of the British Columbia steamers, and land at Port Simpson, 

 the chief town of the north coast and the one nearest to Masset. 

 There we hoped it would be possible to secure some sort of a sailing- 

 vessel with which we could make our proposed journey. 



After eight days of steaming along that most wonderful of 

 inland seas we landed at Port Simpson, six hundred miles from Vic- 

 toria, on June 30th. The prospect, after a few hours' survey of the 

 barren beach and of the bay devoid of boats, was not cheerful; nor 



Street in JMA^^Kl. (^iiccii ( hai loii,- Inlands. 



did the perpetual patter of the rain, nor the thick depressing fog, 

 nor the forlorn, deserted appearance of the town, contribute greatly 

 to encourage a belief that our mission was to be successful. One 

 thing, however, was in our favor: the Hudson Bay officer from 

 Masset was in Simpson and was ready to return to his post. This 

 fact, in the end, proved greatly to our advantage, for by his efforts 

 we were enabled to secure one of the boats which had been used by 

 the Canadian surveyors in running the international boundary line 

 in 1895. So the Janet, the largest of the boats, was taken out of 

 the shed and put into the water, and after two days' soaking it was 

 found that the leakage could easily be kept in check, and she was 

 pronounced seaworthy. 



Our party numbered five: Mr. Stephens, the merchant; Mr. 



VOL LIII — 13 



